Pakistan: Nine Tablighi Jamaat activists test positive for coronavirus

Islamabad: At least nine Tablighi Jamaat activists have been tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Pakistan's Punjab province, taking the total infections to 6,506 in the country, according to a media report on Thursday.

The new cases emerged on Tuesday in different districts of the Punjab province. Two weeks back, 198 Tablighi Jamaat workers were quarantined in Pakpattan and nine of them have tested positive, Dawn newspaper reported.

"Their test reports were received and of them, one tested positive for the virus in Pakpattan. Similarly six other preachers tested positive for coronavirus in Sahiwal and two others tested positive in Bahawalpur," authorities were quoted as saying in the report.

According to the Johns Hopkins University data, over 2 million people are infected by the virus and more than 136,000 people have died of the disease globally.

Pakistan till now has reported a total of 6,506 confirmed cases of coronavirus with 123 deaths, the paper reported.

Quoting sources, the report said the district police has quarantined members of Tablighi Jamaat in a mosques in Dhoore Kote near Khairpur Daha.

One of them developed symptoms of coronavirus and later became the first positive case in the area, police said.

The other Tablighi Jamaat activist was also transported from a mosque to the hospital.

Earlier, the Tablighi Jamaat held a convention in Lahore in March, ignoring warnings by officials and later its members spread the disease across the country.